IPC Says Sochi Surpassed Expectations; Paralympics Enter Home Stretch

The Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games enter the closing weekend with final events taking place at two coastal venues and two mountain venues. The closing ceremony is scheduled to for Sunday.

Ticket sales for Russia’s first Paralympics have been strong. To date, 316,200 tickets have been sold, 86,200 more than in Vancouver two years ago.

International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven said the Games have surpassed expectation.

"The Games have been absolutely mind blowing in terms of their impact, far beyond what the Paralympic movement expected when coming here," Craven said. "They have been a spectacular showcase of sport and the power of the human spirit."

"Not only have the athletic performances been first class, but so has the organization been seamless," he said.

"Rounding off these spectacular Games will be Sunday’s closing ceremony which will be an opportunity for the Paralympic movement to say thank you to everyone involved in making these Games a tremendous success," he said.

Action at Venues

On a sunny and pleasant Saturday at the Rosa Khutor alpine venue, the men’s giant slalom took place. The second run, however, was moved back 30 minutes due to the large number of competitors in the field. Forty-six standing skiers, 42 sitting skiers and 18 visually impaired racers started the first run.

Gold medals were won by Vincent Gauthier-Manuel (standing) of France, Christoph Kunz of Switzerland (sitting) and Mac Marcoux of Canada (visually impaired).

Sixteen-year-old Russian skier Alexey Bugaev raced to a silver medal in the standing classification winning his fifth medal in five events.

Russia continued its dominant ways at the Laura cross-country ski venue.

Roman Petushkov led off Russia’s gold-medal winning 4 x 2.5 open relay team, an event comprised of athletes with various impairments. Russia defeated nearest challenger Ukraine by almost a minute as Petushkov nabbed his fifth gold medal of the Games.

In the mixed relay, with teams of two men and two women, Russia also raced to gold defeating silver medalists Sweden by 8.7 seconds.

In the wheelchair curling gold medal match on Saturday afternoon, Canada defeated Russia, 8-3.

The Paralympic program concludes on Sunday with the women’s giant slalom at Rosa Khutor, multiple events at Laura and the closing ceremony at 8 p.m. at Fisht Olympic Stadium

Familiar Foes for Sledge Hockey Gold

The gold medal in sledge hockey is on the line as the U.S. and Russia meet for the second time in five days at the 2014 Paralympics. Russia topped the U.S., 2-1, in the preliminary round on March 11.

Although, the U.S. and Russia had never met in the Paralympics prior to Sochi, the countries matched up four times in the 14 months leading up to the Games, with Team USA winning all four contests.

The United States is seeking to becomethe first country to defend a gold medal in ice sledge hockey since the sport made its Paralympic debut in 1994.

"I'm sure everybody at home is thinking about that miracle" U.S. goaltender Steve Cash said, referencing the Miracle on Ice. "But in our heads it's more about going out there and executing.

"It's going to be a big game, it's going to be tough, and we're not as focused on the concept of that game as we are on getting a gold medal," he said.

In the U.S., NBC will show the game live, unprecedented for coverage of the Paralympics. More than fifty hours of coverage has been aired on NBC Sports Network, however the gold medalist contest was moved to the network’s main channel.

Medal Tally

Host Russia will top the medal tally at the Paralympics too.

After 61 of 72 events, Russians have won 68 medals, including 27 gold. Twelve of the gold medals have come in biathlon, nine in cross-country skiing and six in alpine skiing.

Ukraine is second overall with 21 medals, including five gold.

After winning eight medals yesterday in snowboarding and alpine skiing, the United States climbed to third with 16 medals, including their first gold won by Evan Strong as the U.S. swept the snowboard cross medals in the sport’s Paralympic Games debut.

Italian Sledge Hockey Player Suspended for Doping

The IPC suspended Italian ice sledge hockey player Igor Stella 18 months for an anti-doping violation.

Stella returned an adverse finding for the banned substance Exogenous AAS/clostebol. The finding came from a sample taken in an out-of-competition urine test taken on March 3.

Written by Brian Pinelli in Sochi